


Not Quite Friends

by persephone_stone



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Post-Break Up, Vacation, birthday celebration, unlikely friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24357280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/persephone_stone/pseuds/persephone_stone
Summary: Draco takes a trip for his birthday, and runs into one of the last people he expected.Rated T and up for language.
Relationships: background Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Comments: 17
Kudos: 39
Collections: Draco’s Birthday Bash Mini Fest





	Not Quite Friends

**Author's Note:**

> My assignment was "Draco spends his birthday with Ginny Weasley." This is what my brain came up with!

This was _not_ how Draco Malfoy’s birthday was supposed to go.

He was _supposed_ to be with his girlfriend in the overwater bungalow they had rented, watching fish swim lazily underneath them through the charmed floor of the living room as they shagged each other’s brains out.

Instead, she had been violently ill for most of the day with food poisoning, finally succumbing to her exhaustion after he had managed to get his hands on an anti-nausea potion.

So now here he was, alone at the hotel bar, nursing a tumbler of fire whiskey before he returned to nursing his sleeping, still-sick girlfriend.

“Happy Birthday to me,” he muttered under his breath, throwing back the last of his drink. 

“Aww, how sweet,” came a voice on his left. “Celebrating with all your friends?”

He turned his head to find none other than Ginny fucking Weasley leaning on the bar next to him. On his birthday. In fucking Tahiti.

“Wonderful,” he said to the air in front of him as Ginny pulled herself up onto the adjacent barstool. “I was wondering how this trip could possibly get worse. And now here you are, as if summoned by Beelzebub himself.” He paused, snapping his fingers at her. “That was your grandfather’s name, right Weasley?”

Ginny rolled her eyes at him. “You know his name was Bilius, you wanker. If anyone knows pureblood family trees, it’s your poncy arse.” She signalled to the bartender and ordered a dirty martini with three olives. Draco ordered another drink as well.

The two not-quite-friends sat in not-quite-companionable silence for several minutes, both sipping their drinks, before Draco cracked. 

“What are you even doing here?” he asked her, louder than was strictly necessary. A few other witches and wizards glanced their way, frowning at his outburst.

She took another long sip of her martini, avoiding his question and his gaze. Finally, she sighed, turning to face him and extending a finger toward his face. “If I tell you, you have to swear you won’t tell _her,_ ” she growled, and he didn’t have to ask who the _her_ was. 

He raised both hands in the air, palms toward Ginny. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he lied. 

Her eyes narrowed, but she sighed again, leaning her elbows on the bar and threading her fingers through her fiery hair. She mumbled something that he didn’t quite catch. 

“What?” he asked, leaning toward her. 

“I said I broke up with Harry!” she cried, soliciting a new wave of disapproving glances and tuts of annoyance from the other patrons. 

Draco’s mouth dropped open in shock. “What? Why? When?”

“Want to keep going?” Ginny replied sarcastically. “You forgot who, where, and how.”

He blinked at her. 

She dropped her gaze, shrugging her shoulders in defeat. 

“We weren’t happy. So much had changed since the war, and we saw so many terrible things—” she broke off, clearing her throat when her voice became thick with emotion. “We were just going through the motions, you know? Getting married because we thought we _should,_ not because either of us actually wanted to. Not like you guys,” she said, looking into his eyes again. 

He felt a blush creep up his cheeks, uncomfortable with the happiness he’d found in the face of this obvious hurt. 

“My family had all chipped in to send us on a pre-wedding honeymoon, because I leave for my Harpies training right after the wedd—erm, right after when it was supposed to have happened,” she continued, in explanation of why she was _here_ of all places, so far from London and so close to him. “Harry said I should come by myself. Have a nice vacation before the season starts, and not let the money go to waste.”

“Nice of him,” Draco offered. 

She huffed out a laugh. “You know, that’s the worst part. He is so bloody _nice._ ” Her fingernails drummed the top of the bar rhythmically, the only sign of her inner turmoil. “Rita Skeeter’s going to have a fucking field day raking me over the coals for breaking The Chosen One’s heart. And don’t even get me started on my mum…” With a groan, she dropped her head into her hands. 

“Wait, your parents don’t know?” Draco gasped dramatically, grimacing in embarrassment when she shot him a look out of the corner of her eye. 

“Actually, you’re the first person I’ve told,” Ginny replied thoughtfully. “Which is why you can’t tell her,” she repeated again. “Harry will want to do it.”

“I mean, she is _my_ girlfriend,” Draco began, but backed down at the expression on Ginny’s face. 

They sat in a more companionable silence for awhile, him swirling the remaining liquid in his glass while she ordered another martini. 

“You know, I know what it’s like to get raked over the coals,” he finally said, following his words with a self-deprecating laugh. “Course, I deserved it.”

She nodded in agreement. 

“But the fact remains: I know what it’s like. To be at odds with both Harry Potter and the world. So if you ever need to, I don’t know, talk or something…” he trailed off, feeling completely out of his depth. 

Ginny’s blue eyes were suspiciously watery when she replied. “And then we can like, braid each other’s hair and eat ice cream?” Her words were cruel; her voice was not. 

He shrugged, moving to stand and leave her alone when he felt her hand grip his. 

“Thanks, Malfoy. You’re actually a decent bloke,” she said quietly. Then she added: “But I’ll kill you if you tell anyone I said that.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Weasley,” he replied with a grin. 

He patted her lightly on the shoulder, reminding her to owl him if she needed someone to talk to. As he made to exit through the wide doorway, heading back across the beach to his very expensive room over the water, Ginny called his name once more. 

“Oi, Malfoy!”

He turned, brows raised. 

“Happy Birthday!”

He saluted her, then left. 

When he got back into his room, he found his girlfriend still asleep, wild mane of curly hair sticking out in about twelve different directions on her pillow. He leaned over her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

She stirred, opening her eyes and gazing up at him blearily. 

“Sorry I’m sick on your birthday,” she croaked. “I should have listened to you when you told me not to try those oysters. 

“Yes, well, the fact that you admitted I was right about something is a gift in itself,” he joked, kicking off his shoes and stretching out beside her on the bed. “And we’ll just have to come back here someday, now that you know not to eat dodgy fish from a street market.”

“Did you have a nice time at the bar?” she asked in a slurred voice, already drifting back to sleep. 

He smiled, thinking of Ginny. “Do you know something? I actually did.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know I never say the girlfriend's name, but we all know who it is, right?


End file.
